| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Faraday as a Discoverer by John Tyndall: proved his inspiration true. His dislike of 'doubtful knowledge'
and his efforts to liberate his mind from the thraldom of hypotheses
have been already referred to. Still this rebel against theory was
incessantly theorising himself. His principal researches are all
connected by an undercurrent of speculation. Theoretic ideas were
the very sap of his intellect--the source from which all his
strength as an experimenter was derived. While once sauntering with
him through the Crystal Palace, at Sydenham, I asked him what
directed his attention to the magnetization of light. It was his
theoretic notions. He had certain views regarding the unity and
convertibility of natural forces; certain ideas regarding the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad: As natural as breathing. I imagined I could not
have lived without it.
I don't know what I expected. Perhaps nothing
else than that special intensity of existence which is
the quintessence of youthful aspirations. What-
ever I expected I did not expect to be beset by
hurricanes. I knew better than that. In the Gulf
of Siam there are no hurricanes. But neither did I
expect to find myself bound hand and foot to the
hopeless extent which was revealed to me as the
days went on.
The Shadow Line |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Pathology of Lying, Etc. by William and Mary Healy: seemed to be most ambitious, had been about the court rooms
looking into the details of cases as a student of practical law.
He had attracted attention by his energy and push; he earned
money at various odd jobs and studied law at night. At this time
the boy was under arrest charged with disorderly conduct; he had
beaten his sister in their home.
We found a nice looking and well spoken young fellow who said he
was 17. Although he had been in this country only three years
from Germany, he spoke English almost without an accent and did
quite well with French also. He had been brought up in Hamburg.
His statement added to that previously given by the lawyer
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